Peters



UNITED STATES FFICE.

PATENT H. A. HARVEY, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

Specification forming part o f Letters Patent No. 42,474, dated April 26, ISG.

F0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, H. A. HARVEY, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Arranging and Forwarding Screw-Blanks and Similar Articles; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan or top view of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is anV elevation ot the same, and Fig. 3 is a vertical central section through it.

The object of this invention is the same which I have already conceived and embodied in other machinery for which I have made applications for Letters Patent-viz., to arrange blanks forward them to several machines from a single hopper or arranging apparatus.

ln the present contrivance] take as a basis for my improvements a well-known apparatus for arran ging screwblanks--viz., ahopper with a slot in the bottom, through which vibrates a piece of metal provided on its upper edge with a long slit capable of receiving the barrels or bodies of screw-,blanks and supporting them by their heads.

In the form in which my improvement is embodied in the drawings the hopper a a a is a circular pan with a cylindrical boss in the ccnter, as at b, and a series of radial ridges in the bottom of the pan, so that the bottom slopes from both sides toward the slots in the bottom, through which vibrate the arrangers c c c c. These arrangers are pieces of metal with long slotsin the top capable of receiving the bod y of a screw-blank and supporting it by its head,

and they are open at the end nearest the out` They are pivoted at d d,

side of the hopper. and when in their lowest position have the tops of their slots on a level with the bottom of the hopper, or nearly so. Attached to these arran gers, or making part therewith, are projections e e, which vibrate in slots in the cen tral boss and serve to guide and steady the arrangers; butboth the boss and the projections may be dispensed with. A rod, f, is supported in the frame-work of the machine in such manner as to be free to slide up and down, and it may be moved by a lever, as shown in the drawings, or by a cam-wheel, crank, or other suitable contrivance. This rod is forked at the upper end, and each of the prongs is connected to one of the arrangers by a pin which enters a slot in the latter, the arrangement being such that all the arran gers shall vibrate up and down with each vibration of the rod. This rod may be on top instead of below, and connected to the upper sides of the arrangers or the projections making part thereof.

The red lines in Fig. 3 show the arrangers in their highest position.

A series of inclined forwardin g-ways, the upper ends of which are represented atG G', are to be attached to the hopper, or so sustained that they will form a continuation of the slots in the arrangers, and these ways are to be extended in straight or curved lines to the various machines that operate on the blanks. I prefer to make the slots in the arrangers beveled at top, so as to contain the head of a blank, as represented in the drawings, so that the blanks may slide therein without interference from blanks that may rest on top of the arrangers,

and as a precaution against jamming the machine, and consequent breakage, I intend to unite thev arrangers to the rod by springconnections, such as a V-sprin g riveted at one end to the rod, and at the other sustaining the pivot which enters the slot in the arranger. As a further precaution I intend to pivot to each arranger a slide of thin metal lying in close contact with the inside of the side of the pan above each arranger, and held against the sides by guides or otherwise. This slide will permit screws in the slot of the arranger to slide under it, so that it will not interfere with the working of the machine, and will prevent blanks from entering the small cavities .r Jr in the sides of the pan when the arrangers are down.

Among other modifications of the contrivance, I intend to move the arrangers in right lines instead of working them on points, and in that case Iattach the ends of theforwardingways to the top ofthe rim ofthe pan, or, at any rate, above the level to which it is usually filled with blanks, and so form the arrangers that their upper edges are at all times at a sufficient angle with the horizon to cause blanks to slide therein by the force of gravity. When such arrangers pick up blanks, they will be prevented from sliding out by the side of the pan until the slot in the arrangers comes opposite to the slot in the forwarding-ways, which slot is to be continued through the side of the pan.

and when the arr-angers rise so as to be sutt'r `ciently inclined to the horizon the blanks which are caught, or some of them, will slide out into the torwarding-ways. When the arrangers descend, blanks will roll in over them, and, as the arrangers rise again, theywill catch and pick up other blanks. When the arran ers are not pivoted and the inclination of their top edges is constant, as in the moditicaiion before described, the blanks which are caught will tend always to slide to the periphery ot the hopper, but will not escape from the arrangers till the latter rise so that their slots are in a line with the slots in' the forwarding- Ways, andthel opper may be ot' any contour, so long as it holds blanks so that the arrangers can act upon them substantially as described.

The arrangers may Vary in number from two upwards. Gates may be placed in the ways so as to cut oft' the How through them,in which ease the arranger in communication with that way will ll itself', or nearly so, and then work up and down without performing any duty.

l claim as of my own invention- An apparatus substantially such as herein described, whereby blanks deposited in a pan may be arranged and forwarded or supplied to various machines for operating thereon, said apparatus consisting of a pan, a series of Vibrating arrangers, and aseries of forwardingways constructed, combined, and acting together substantially as herein set forth.

[n testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

H. A. HARVEY. 

